Project overview

The Centre for Catholic Social Thought and Practice worked in partnership with women@thewell and the Durham Centre for Catholic Studies on this exciting and groundbreaking project.

Across the globe 33 million women and girls are affected by prostitution. Whilst there are significant bodies of work in relation to Catholic social thought in areas related to prostitution, for example; trafficking and modern slavery, dignity of work, and family life, there has been very little done to explore prostitution with women affected by prostitution specifically within the context of Catholic social thought.

The research worked across a number of areas including; trauma theory, feminist thought and a range of theological perspectives. It included research with women affected by prostitution and with the practitioners who support them. This project aimed to produce robust, research-based resources to support the development of Catholic social thought in relation to prostitution.

Outputs and impacts

The project ran from October 2018 through to the summer of 2019 and the research contributed to a number of outputs.

Invisible: Prostitution and the Lives of Women. A report listening to the voices of women whose lives are affected by prostitution. Based on research by Dr Pat Jones.

Prostitution and Catholic Social Teaching. A briefing for Catholic parliamentarians (2021).

‘I am real, I am here.’ A letter to Catholic Bishops from women@thewell

Patricia Jones: ‘Catholic social teaching and the peripheries: the case for addressing prostitution’ (International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, Vol 23  Issue 1 (2023)

Further information

Find out more about the work of women@thewell or contact researcher Dr Patricia Jones.

Featured
Seeing from a periphery
Seeing from a periphery

Pat Jones, who has just completed a research project on women in the sex trade, argues that “seeing from the peripheries” is a difficult discipline - but nevertheless crucial for addressing violence and abuse against women.

Supporting women involved in prostitution during a pandemic (COVID-19 blog no. 8)
Supporting women involved in prostitution during a pandemic (COVID-19 blog no. 8)

Caro Hattersley, director of women@thewell, an organisation which provides support to women leaving or who have left prostitution, reflects on the challenges presented by COVID-19 for their work.